Queen’s Speech: Ministers say they will consult with the Scottish
Government – which is strongly in favour of onshore wind – over pledge to
end subsidies
By Emily Gosden, Energy Editor
English consumers could be forced to continue paying for new wind farms in
Scotland, after the Government indicated its promise to end subsidies may
not apply north of the border.
The Conservatives pledged in their manifesto to “end any new public
subsidy” for onshore wind farms after David Cameron declared that “enough
is enough”.
But on Wednesday the Government disclosed that, while it would “be
announcing measures to deliver this soon”, it would also “consult with the
devolved administrations on changes to subsidy regimes for onshore wind
farms”.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader, is strongly in
favour of more onshore wind farms and has already demanded a veto on the
Tory plans – raising the prospect that subsidies may continue to be paid to
new projects in Scotland.
The cost of subsidising wind farms is shared between all households across
the UK, through levies on their energy bills.
If Ms Sturgeon succeeds in retaining subsidies for new projects in
Scotland, English consumers could therefore continue to pay the bulk of the
costs.
The Conservatives have previously suggested that their pledge would see
subsidies scrapped for any onshore wind projects that do not already have
planning consent.
The majority of such projects – 1,642 out of 2,836 turbines – currently
awaiting planning permission are in Scotland, compared with 483 in England,
according to figures from wind industry body Renewable UK.
The devolved government in Wales – where 387 turbines are awaiting
permission – is also likely to be in favour of continued onshore wind
subsidies.
Nicola Sturgeon has demanded a veto on David Cameron’s plans
Asked to confirm whether the end to subsidies would apply in Scotland, a
spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “The UK
Government’s intention is to end subsidies for onshore wind but we will
consult with the Scottish government before applying it there.”
He added: “There is no point doing a consultation without taking into
account the outcomes of it.”
The Queen’s Speech also proposes the introduction of an Energy Bill that
will change the law “in line with the manifesto commitment to give local
communities the final say on wind farm applications”.
As part of this, large wind farms of more than 50 megawatt capacity – at
least 17 turbines – will be moved from national to local planning authorities.
Only two big onshore wind farms have so far been dealt with at national
level, Angus Walker, planning partner at law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, said,
suggesting the Government may have overplayed the significance of the change.
However, both such projects were approved in the face of local opposition,
he said, and a handful of further projects in England and Wales are
currently being dealt with under the national framework.
A second element of the Government’s plans will see “changes to the
national planning policy framework to give effect to the manifesto
commitment that local communities should have the final say on planning
applications for wind farms”.
It is not clear what this will mean in practice, as currently if a local
community rejects a proposal the developer can still appeal to national
planning inspectors or the secretary of state.
Wind industry groups reacted angrily to the plans to curb onshore turbines.
Ian Marchant, chairman of Infinis Energy and spokesman for British Wind,
said: “The proposed approach contradicts the Government’s manifesto
commitment to ‘meet our climate change commitments, cutting carbon
emissions as cheaply as possible, to save you money’ as the cost of
substituting more expensive alternative technologies in place of onshore
wind would needlessly add several hundred million pounds every year to
energy bills.
“It surely cannot be the Government’s intention to deny local communities
the chance to host onshore wind projects if that is what they want to do.”
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of RenewableUK criticised the plan to move
big wind farms from national to local planning authorities. “Singling out
one of the most popular and lowest cost forms of energy technology for
different treatment in the planning system sends a worrying message to
investors across the energy sector,” she said.
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